"If I can stop one Heart from Breaking,
I shall not live in Vain;
If I can Ease one Life the Aching;
I shall not live in Vain."
I have a Solution that will reduce pressure on IIT aspirants but do not know how to get this across to HRD Minister of India. Suggestions are welcome. (Ram Krishnaswamy)

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Saturday, December 27, 2014

281 - Student from Vizag District Commits Suicide in IIT-Guwahati Hostel Room - NEW INDIAN EXPRESS

VISAKHAPATNAM: K Parameswara Rao, a final year B.Tech student from Visakhapatnam district, allegedly committed suicide at his hostel room on the IIT campus in Guwahati on Thursday.

IIT-G officials confirmed that Rao, said to be a merit student from a humble background, was found hanging from the ceiling. According to IIT-Guwahati assistant registrar LK Konwar, Rao’s roommates saw him fast asleep in the hostel room when they last saw him.

“The college was closed on the occasion of Christmas. His friends returned to the campus in the afternoon after a visit to Guwahati and went to the ground to play cricket. Realising that Rao, who played cricket with them the previous day, was absent, they knocked on his door to invite him,” Konwar told Express. With no response forthcoming and the doors locked from inside, they suspected that something was amiss and immediately alerted the authorities. Police, who broke open the doors, found Rao hanging.

Rao’s father, K Venkata Rao, a pan shop owner at K Kotapadu, was informed soon after. The mechanical engineering student’s family members, accompanied by relatives and friends, left for Guwahati immediately. The exact reason for Rao’s suicide remains unclear. His friends and faculty members at the IIT-G said he was in good spirits when they had last interacted with him. However, it is suspected that low grades in examinations could have driven him to take the extreme step.

But his friends insisted that Rao did not betray any signs of depression over his alleged low grades. “In fact, he played cricket on Wednesday till evening despite the cold weather and later, had dinner with us. He even sent SMSes from his mobile wishing his Christian friends a ‘Merry Christmas’,” a classmate said.

Faculty members said they were in shock as such an incident had not taken place on the campus in recent times. A condolence meeting was held Thursday evening to mourn Rao.